diff --git a/internal/action/action.go b/internal/action/action.go
index 7c32472ccf..009e0f9007 100644
--- a/internal/action/action.go
+++ b/internal/action/action.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/gopasspw/gopass/internal/config"
 	"github.com/gopasspw/gopass/internal/reminder"
 	"github.com/gopasspw/gopass/internal/store/root"
+	"github.com/gopasspw/gopass/pkg/debug"
 
 	"github.com/blang/semver/v4"
 )
@@ -47,9 +48,12 @@ func newAction(cfg *config.Config, sv semver.Version, remind bool) (*Action, err
 	if remind {
 		r, err := reminder.New()
 		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
+			debug.Log("failed to init reminder: %s", err)
+		} else {
+			// only populate the reminder variable on success, the implementation
+			// can handle being called on a nil pointer
+			act.rem = r
 		}
-		act.rem = r
 	}
 
 	return act, nil
diff --git a/internal/cache/disk.go b/internal/cache/disk.go
index 2132fc13e3..ad1272cb57 100644
--- a/internal/cache/disk.go
+++ b/internal/cache/disk.go
@@ -23,9 +23,11 @@ type OnDisk struct {
 func NewOnDisk(name string, ttl time.Duration) (*OnDisk, error) {
 	d := filepath.Join(appdir.UserCache(), "gopass", name)
 	if err := os.MkdirAll(d, 0755); err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create ondisk cache dir %s: %w", d, err)
 	}
+
 	debug.Log("New on disk cache %s created at %s", name, d)
+
 	return &OnDisk{
 		ttl:  ttl,
 		name: name,
@@ -39,20 +41,27 @@ func (o *OnDisk) Get(key string) ([]string, error) {
 	fn := filepath.Join(o.dir, key)
 	fi, err := os.Stat(fn)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to stat %s: %w", fn, err)
 	}
+
 	if time.Now().After(fi.ModTime().Add(o.ttl)) {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("expired")
 	}
+
 	buf, err := os.ReadFile(fn)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read file %s: %w", fn, err)
 	}
+
 	return strings.Split(string(buf), "\n"), nil
 }
 
 // Set adds an entry to the cache.
 func (o *OnDisk) Set(key string, value []string) error {
 	key = fsutil.CleanFilename(key)
-	return os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(o.dir, key), []byte(strings.Join(value, "\n")), 0644)
+	fn := filepath.Join(o.dir, key)
+	if err := os.WriteFile(fn, []byte(strings.Join(value, "\n")), 0644); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write %s to %s: %w", key, fn, err)
+	}
+	return nil
 }
diff --git a/internal/reminder/reminder.go b/internal/reminder/reminder.go
index d761e472f9..90ccbe4f6d 100644
--- a/internal/reminder/reminder.go
+++ b/internal/reminder/reminder.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package reminder
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/gopasspw/gopass/internal/cache"
@@ -16,7 +17,7 @@ type Store struct {
 func New() (*Store, error) {
 	od, err := cache.NewOnDisk("reminder", 90*24*time.Hour)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to init reminder cache: %w", err)
 	}
 
 	return &Store{
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 34b502b82b..3c3f7b715c 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -115,8 +115,8 @@ func setupApp(ctx context.Context, sv semver.Version) (context.Context, *cli.App
 	// initialize action handlers
 	action, err := ap.New(cfg, sv)
 	if err != nil {
-		out.Errorf(ctx, "No gpg binary found: %s", err)
-		os.Exit(ap.ExitGPG)
+		out.Errorf(ctx, "failed to initialize gopass: %s", err)
+		os.Exit(ap.ExitUnknown)
 	}
 
 	// set some action callbacks